Once we shared the photos from Grace Church‘s new universal-sized changing table, we received a lot of positive feedback and questions. As with anything relating to disability ministry, there is no such thing as one size fits all. What may work for one community may not work for another. However, making your building more accessible will benefit everyone. Abigail was kind enough to answer some questions about their universal-sized changing table project.
Outside of the church, I work as an occupational therapist; it’s hard not to notice all the ways our old church building is inaccessible to people with physical disabilities. We rent space in our building to a day program for adults with developmental disabilities, and we’ve had an increase in the diversity of our attendees over the past few years. When the deacons remodeled our oldest bathrooms into “family bathrooms”, I saw an opportunity to improve those larger bathrooms even more as one of them has a perfect spot for a table.
The time seemed ripe to suggest it, as the deacons already had making those bathrooms more accessible on their radar. As a staff member, I’m often present for conversations about different things going on at church, and it gives me an opportunity to add my perspective and share thoughts from an accessibility standpoint.
Cost and space. Powered changing tables that adjust and fold up are incredible, and I wish we could afford one; we are a small church that would not be able to fund that large cost. Our older building also presents some limitations, and I wanted to be mindful of how much space was available. Building a custom table allowed us to make the specifications exactly right for the space, and still leave plenty of room for wheelchair accessibility through the bathroom door.
If you’re able to get perfect lumber, you’d probably have an easier time, but we did struggle a bit with fastening the plywood top due to a little bit of warping and the T nuts just being difficult. My dad and I aren’t professionals, though, just handy. Someone with more experience with building would probably have an easier time! Installation was easy. We carried it from his basement into my minivan, drove it to church, and rolled it right into the bathroom on a dolly.
Initially, I had written our proposal with an estimate of $175, but with rising lumber costs and buying nicer wood for the face frame, we spent $250. I still need to buy storage baskets and supplies for underneath, so I’m guessing it’ll top out between $300-350. Pretty good for the impact! Certainly even better with the grant.
There’s been a lot of positive response. We’ve done a few other things over the past couple of years to improve accessibility, so we took the opportunity to introduce those in our newsletter with pictures of the changing table, and are gathering interest in starting a disability ministry team.
I’ve been consulting Ashley Belknap of Engaging Disability through the Gospel since I started in my position as Children’s Ministry Coordinator, and she got me connected with several podcasts and Facebook groups that Ability Ministry shows up in. I found the grant a couple of years ago when looking through your website and tucked the idea away in my brain until the right moment came.
Download Grace Church’s proposal, diagrams, and planning document here.
If your church or organization is interested in installing a universal-sized changing table, please visit Tale of the Shrinking Toilets for more information, plans, as well as our book that helps raise awareness for the issue.
